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Phantom Days
Before Isabel has even cracked the spine of a novel she bought on a whim ahead of an overseas trip, she senses something beginning within her. From Sydney to London and back again, the book is a quiet observer. When it’s left in an airport taxi and Isabel’s new boyfriend takes it home, the book begins to learn about him – about his family and his past. Soon, it begins to understand: Isabel is not safe.
Angela O’Keeffe is the master of voice, and Phantom Days is a marvel: eerie, elegant and unforgettable. With O’Keeffe’s signature emotional depth and narrative quirkiness, this novel explores the unknowability of other people, the mysteries of the body, and the strange ways stories shape, complicate and safeguard our lives.
Angela O’Keeffe is the master of voice, and Phantom Days is a marvel: eerie, elegant and unforgettable. With O’Keeffe’s signature emotional depth and narrative quirkiness, this novel explores the unknowability of other people, the mysteries of the body, and the strange ways stories shape, complicate and safeguard our lives.
176 pages
Published April 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 8, 2026
Sydney author Angela O'Keeffe has created an interesting niche in contemporary Australian publishing: she writes short novels with non-human narrators. In her debut novel Night Blue (2021, see my review), Jackson Pollock’s iconic painting ‘Blue Poles’ tells the story of its own creation, and the novella was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for New Writing and for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. The Sitter (2023, see my review) is narrated by the ghostly presence of Hortense Cezanne, hovering over a writer’s shoulder as she struggles to write the story of Hortense’s relationship with Paul Cezanne. The Sitter won the 2024 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
And now, Phantom Days. It's a departure from and a logical extension of this preoccupation with works of art and stymied communication: it's narrated by a book (which is what Georgia the writer in The Sitter was trying to write while stranded in a Paris under Covid restrictions) — and also by the ashes of a mother from the jar on a mantelpiece (the fate feared by Georgia, that she would die in the pandemic without telling her story). Like Georgia, this disembodied mother has a crucial story to tell, but like the book these ashes cannot do anything to alter events.
When I'm at Benn's Bookshop, I usually have a chat about the new books they have on display because I've often read them. This week I spotted Phantom Days on the shelf, and cracked jokes about O'Keeffe's non-sentient narrators, wondering what would be next? a tube of toothpaste? a set of keys? But no. O'Keeffe's narrators are never from the detritus of everyday life. They are silent, but they speak to us all the same, and we carry them within, whether in their actual presence or not. The ruins at Pompeii, the sculptures and artworks I've seen in Europe, the music in my heart and the thousands of books I've read are all a part of me, and the best of them speak to me time and and again. This is why we need the creative arts...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2026/05/08/p...
And now, Phantom Days. It's a departure from and a logical extension of this preoccupation with works of art and stymied communication: it's narrated by a book (which is what Georgia the writer in The Sitter was trying to write while stranded in a Paris under Covid restrictions) — and also by the ashes of a mother from the jar on a mantelpiece (the fate feared by Georgia, that she would die in the pandemic without telling her story). Like Georgia, this disembodied mother has a crucial story to tell, but like the book these ashes cannot do anything to alter events.
When I'm at Benn's Bookshop, I usually have a chat about the new books they have on display because I've often read them. This week I spotted Phantom Days on the shelf, and cracked jokes about O'Keeffe's non-sentient narrators, wondering what would be next? a tube of toothpaste? a set of keys? But no. O'Keeffe's narrators are never from the detritus of everyday life. They are silent, but they speak to us all the same, and we carry them within, whether in their actual presence or not. The ruins at Pompeii, the sculptures and artworks I've seen in Europe, the music in my heart and the thousands of books I've read are all a part of me, and the best of them speak to me time and and again. This is why we need the creative arts...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2026/05/08/p...
May 16, 2026
my first introduction to angela o’keeffe and i was fully taken in by her beautifully sparse prose!! i love that the whole book takes such a simple adage of ‘a book can save a life’, and explores it with such clarity and sincerity
May 4, 2026
I carried this book from Avid reader, to the gym and my local cafe.
As I moved between locations as I read, I felt a curious sensation of being witnessed by it.
Phenomenally good and touching story.
As I moved between locations as I read, I felt a curious sensation of being witnessed by it.
Phenomenally good and touching story.
May 1, 2026
Interesting magical realism about the power of books, and the tragedy of family connection
May 7, 2026
What an extraordinary, spare, glittering literary gem is PHANTOM DAYS (UQP 2026) by Angela O’Keefe. In her trademark prose style – ethereal, strange, beguiling and with a whimsical sense of wonder, O’Keefe presents a story of two women, mother and daughter, Maggie and Isabel, and their connection through a book. The book narrates most of the novel (very meta!)
Some beautiful quotes I chose at random:
‘A book comes into the world knowing it is a saviour, of sorts.’
‘A book is made without eyes. A book has other ways to see.’
From the book being signed by its author at a book launch, to remaining unopened and unread on a flight across the world and back again, the book witnesses the relationship between mother and daughter, it sees the danger to both, it knows it must save them, but what can it do? It is only a book.
This slim, literary novel is meditative, engaging and compelling. It celebrates the light and hope of art. It shifts between reality and a dreamlike state. It is eerie, haunting, graceful and unforgettable. It explores bodies and relationships and all the ways people know and do not know each other, all the ways people hurt, save and redeem each other. It’s about phantom pregnancies, the hint of violence like the scent of blood in the air, connections, farewells, leavings both planned and unexpected. It is an elegy to the small moments of transformation that we attend to and which make up our lives.
As with her previous novel, THE SITTER, O’Keefe wastes not a word. Moving, tender, warm, heartbreaking, hopeful and almost spiritual, PHANTOM DAYS will resonate and reverberate long after the last page is turned. A truly gorgeous novel crafted with skill and a touch of magic.
Some beautiful quotes I chose at random:
‘A book comes into the world knowing it is a saviour, of sorts.’
‘A book is made without eyes. A book has other ways to see.’
From the book being signed by its author at a book launch, to remaining unopened and unread on a flight across the world and back again, the book witnesses the relationship between mother and daughter, it sees the danger to both, it knows it must save them, but what can it do? It is only a book.
This slim, literary novel is meditative, engaging and compelling. It celebrates the light and hope of art. It shifts between reality and a dreamlike state. It is eerie, haunting, graceful and unforgettable. It explores bodies and relationships and all the ways people know and do not know each other, all the ways people hurt, save and redeem each other. It’s about phantom pregnancies, the hint of violence like the scent of blood in the air, connections, farewells, leavings both planned and unexpected. It is an elegy to the small moments of transformation that we attend to and which make up our lives.
As with her previous novel, THE SITTER, O’Keefe wastes not a word. Moving, tender, warm, heartbreaking, hopeful and almost spiritual, PHANTOM DAYS will resonate and reverberate long after the last page is turned. A truly gorgeous novel crafted with skill and a touch of magic.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
God I loved this little book about a sentient book. Yes, you read that right. And you will love it, too. Imagine Anita Brookner enjoying an unexpected flight of fancy.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
4.5 - really beautiful, puts you in such a specific trance-like mood, I wish I had carved out an afternoon to read it in one sitting.
May 9, 2026
Beautiful and moving. Read it in one day and was completely immersed.
May 12, 2026
Eerie, ethereal, captivating…. Add to this a beautiful prose and a story worth telling!
Angela O’Keefe is a beautiful author
Angela O’Keefe is a beautiful author
May 13, 2026
Another awesome novel. Beautifully written lyrical and inspiring. Thank you to the author
May 18, 2026
Strange little story told from several points of view including a book. The book is endearing.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews